How It Could Have Been
by RosemarieCraig
Summary: A Huddy future story. What if Houses' Dad meets House's kids? Discontinued because I have no idea what to write! If you have any ideas, contact me! X
1. Chapter 1

**Author note: it doesn't really matter where this happens in the show. House's 'father' never died though. This is a Huddy story. Characters not on the show were made up by me. I don't own House. Cheers x**

"I can't believe it took us this long' Cuddy whispered, her stomach ballooning under her white dress. House looked a little awkward in his suit and tie, but his smile lit up his bright blue eyes.

"You may kiss the bride" and he did, a long, joyful, deep kiss that lasted as long as the applause. House's teams, old and new were standing at the front, Cameron crying, Forman whooping, Chase eying up Cuddy's 19 year old cousin, Thirteen looking slightly bored, and Taub shifting uncomfortably, pulling his wedding band up and down his finger. Wilson stood next to House and slapped him on the shoulder, leaning forward to whisper in his ear

"I think you'll have to try really hard to screw this up, House" the men smiled knowingly at each other. Blythe lurked at the back of the little church, scowling. She didn't like the idea of her son having a pregnant wife. House ignored her on their way down the aisle. It was the one day when he didn't care about what she thought at all. He had no secrets to keep.

House's father stood outside the church, waiting for his son. House spotted him and pulled Cuddy up short.

"Lisa, why is he here?" he sounded almost frightened.

"I didn't invite him"

"Gregory. I want to talk to you" no one had called him Gregory in a quarter of a century. He automatically dropped his head and moved his feet imperceptibly outwards.

"Father" House muttered. Cuddy stayed by his side, her shoulder brushing his upper arm gently. He caught a whiff of her perfume and took strength from it, standing firmer and taller.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"My wife doesn't know yet and we decided I wouldn't tell her"

"I don't really care. Boy or girl?"

"I can't say"

"Gregory" John House snapped, stepping forward, squaring up to his son. "You still haven't grown up, have you? You're still that insolent, annoying, arrogant, stupid little boy you were forty years ago! I don't know why I wasted my time coming to this failure of a wedding. It'll be over before your bastard child is one!" John House turned on his heel, his hand itching to smack House in the face. He resisted, worried about the heavy cane that his son carried. He hadn't known about his leg.

"Are you okay, House?"

"Let's go, yeah?" House murmured, gesturing towards the stretched limo that was waiting to take them to a hotel for their three day honeymoon before the birth of their child. They got in to rapturous applause that House ignored. He didn't even wait for Wilson.

"He was wrong. I'll stay with you forever, House. There's nothing your could do to make me leave"

"What if I end up like him? What if I abuse our children. Will you ignore it to protect me, or kick me out to protect them?"

"House- you would never-"

"Why not? I get into fights when I'm drunk. I'm a druggie, I'm a mess. You saw how much just seeing him affects me. I could be like him."

"I don't believe it for half a second. You will love our child. You will take care of them and love them. You will never, ever hurt them. I know you"


	2. Chapter 2

The doctors were running up the corridor, pulling a bed with a screaming Cuddy along the familiar corridors of PPTH. Cuddy had a death grip on House's hand. He was struggling to keep up with the speed of the doctors.

"You will not go away, you bastard! You did this to me! You will stand next to me and have your fingers crushed!"

"Okay okay, as long as you leave me one hand for walking with!" House said under his breath. Cuddy screamed as she pushed. House paced up and down next to her bed, his leg twinged occasionally, making him skip a step and hold onto Cuddy's bed. He was impatient, waiting desperately for his baby. Finally, after hours of labour, a red baby came kicking and screaming into House's arms. House immediately took the baby round to Cuddy.

"What is it?" she asked wearily, excitement spreading over her tear stained face.

"Lisa Cuddy, say hello to our son, William James House. Will" House kissed his son and handed him gently over to Cuddy.

"Hello Will. We're a proper family now"

"We always were" House whispered before kissing her on the cheek. Wilson came tentatively into the room, and grinned as he saw his best friends cradling a blonde haired, startlingly blue eyed baby wrapped in a blue fleece.

"Oh my God. You have a baby" he said, joyfully.

"Hey Wilson. Meet your godson, William James House" said House

"Oh my God" Wilson said again. House's old team peered around the door. Chase, Foreman and Cameron came in together. Chase could have sworn he saw a tear in his bosses impenetrable eye, but the team has close in on the family, commenting on Will's eyes, the exact same shade as House's.

"Come on. I need to talk to you" House led Wilson out of the room. Leaving Cuddy with a kiss. The best friends went to Wilson's office.

"Congratulations House. You did it. You got Cuddy, you have a son"

"I don't know, Wilson. I still feel like I could screw it up. What if I end up like my father?"

"You never told me what he was like"

"He was military. Everything has it's place, and I was never in the right one. My Mom played bridge on Wednesday nights, and those weeks he was home, I dreaded those nights. He could always come up with some story, some explanation of my 'clumsiness'"

"He hit you?"

"No, I really did bump into doors" House said sarcastically."I hope I'm not paying for this little therapy session because you really need to up your service"

"You won't be like your father, House. You couldn't hurt Will, could you?"

"How could I hurt him? He's mine, I love him already. But I'll be a jerk, I'll be selfish, I'll be an idiot, I'll take drugs and vomit at his baseball games."

"And he will forgive you, and love you for it. Just like Cuddy does. Like I do"

"We named him after you. William for Wilson, James for James"

"I'm touched"

"Wanna know why?"

"You're going to tell me"

"I want him to be more you than me. You'll be his godfather, his uncle, his brother, his friend. Please try to balance me out. Protect him from me."

"He won't need protecting"

The best friends hugged. It was the first actual hug they had ever exchanged. Wilson felt the tingle of longing and regret that always washed over him when they made accidental skin contact. But House was married, and there was nothing Wilson could do. Their soppy moment was quickly forgotten, lost in the memory of William's birth.


	3. Chapter 3

House and Cuddy had two more children, Sasha and Miles. Sasha was a splitting image of her mother, with long brown, wavy hair, hazel eyes and a prominent chin. She was clever, and enjoyed mocking her baby brother for his lack of coordination. Miles was a cross between his parents. He had blonde hair which curled angelically around his face, his eyes were a deep brown with flecks of gold. He was six, and acted much older. Like the other House children, Miles was extremely intelligent, but he had missed out on the ability to play sport. Will, their oldest, was the perfect child. An exact replica of his father, William, now twelve, was precocious, sarcastic, astonishingly clever, incredibly musically talented and has a passion for long distance running. He loved fixing his father's motorbike, and would invent problems with it to get House into the garage to spend an hour of so talking over the engine.

"When do I get to ride the bike, Dad?"

"It's not legal yet"

"I'll be careful. You'll still be driving, and I'll hold on really tight! Please?"

"Will" House warned

"Please?" Will grinned as his father looked conspiratorially around for Cuddy. House took the helmet and adjusted it to fit his son, plonking it on his head.

"If we get caught, you understand that this was... Uncle Wilson's fault, right?"

"He's at a conference in New York"

"Oh yeah. What about Chase?"

"Idaho with Cameron and Pete" Pete was Chase and Cameron's baby. They had got married the year before, for the third time.

"Foreman?"

"Foreman. He'd want you to do it anyway, he's so keen for your job, Dad"

"Well, he won't be getting that for a while, hey"

"Not a chance"

"Unless you kill me on this bike or your mother kills me when we get back!" House and Will laughed as House helped his son onto the bike and jumped on himself. He kicked back the foot and started the bike. He roared it out of the garage and down the street. Will whooped loudly, making House laugh.

"You are the best Dad ever!" Will yelled into House's ear as they sped down the words had only just left his mouth when the car hit them.

"Will?" House mumbled, pain spreading over his body. "Will?" he tried to move, but felt something heavy lying across his legs. He looked around and saw his red motorbike crushing his lower body. He raised his head, looking frantically for his son. The boy was lying a few feet away, blood running down his face, unconscious. "No!" House yelled. It couldn't be as bad as it looked. Will could not be...

"Daddy?" Will whispered.

"Will, you marvellous boy! Are you okay? Don't sit up"

"I think I'm okay"

"Good. Call an ambulance, Will. Tell them who you are and that you and Gregory House need to be taken to PPTH, and Lisa Cuddy, Dean Of Medicine, needs to be notified. Got that?"

"Yeah, I think so" Will took his remarkably still intact cell from his pocket and called the ambulance. Within ten minutes they were both in the back of a bright yellow van taking them to the hospital. Will had grown up within the glass and steel walls of PPTH. His best friends had been the cancer kids, his role models the diagnostics team. He'd been born there, but he sure wasn't going to die there. He was separated from his Father in a corridor, they took Will to paediatrics and House into the OR. As soon as he lost sight of his son, House stopped hiding his pain. He screamed. His old injury burned and his legs felt crushed. He knew his arm was broken. A cold sweat covered his body, and the doctors around him gave him morphine. But it didn't help, he had built up a resistance to pain medication. Between screams he whispered

"Vicodin. Give me Vicodin" it was the only sane thought in his pain riddled mind. "get me Vicodin"


	4. Chapter 4

"House? House, please wake up" Cuddy was standing next to him, holding his hand tightly. He groaned, coming back to the pain that seemed to come from everywhere, not opening his eyes.

"I'm sorry"

"It's okay. Will is fine"

"I'm sorry" he said again "Please, I'm sorry" Cuddy looked confused and checked his temperature. He was burning up.

"Get a team in here!" she shouted. House flinched away from the sound. "It's okay" she whispered, stroking his hair from his face.

"Please stop. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry" House murmured "I'm sorry"

"Greg? It's me, it's Lisa. You're safe" she had a horrible feeling she knew who he was talking to. The team came in, doctors Cuddy had hired. They began to crack ice blankets and laid them over a begging, delirious House. He started to scream again, a childlike scream of fear and pain and humiliation and anger. Tears were streaming down Cuddy's face as her fears were confirmed. He was begging his father to stop the pain. To stop hitting him. Cuddy took his hand and held it tight, kissing his sweaty forehead as his body cooled down.

"Lisa?" House whispered

"I'm here"

"Make it stop"

"I can't"

"Do the coma thing again. My leg hasn't hurt this badly..." since the operation.

"I'm not putting you in a coma"

"Make it stop" he said, his breathing ragged, his voice cracking with the effort of not screaming.

"I'll authorise more morphine" Cuddy increased House's drugs to near dangerous levels and his face relaxed. He slept again. Cuddy went to sit with Will for a while. House wouldn't be capable of speech for several hours.

Will was sitting up in bed, an ugly scar went across his forehead, raised by the black stitches. It wouldn't be too bad. His left arm was in a sling, but not a cast. A sprain. Cuddy breathed a sigh of relief looking at her son. He would be fine. If only she could say the same for House.

"Heya Mom" Will said sheepishly. "How's Dad?"

"He'll probably be okay" Cuddy reassured the blonde boy. She could see, in her mind's eye, House at his age, looking just the same, but without the sheepish smile. She winced as she imagined the pain he must have suffered as a child. Cuddy gritted her teeth as she thought of House's mother. She hadn't protected him, hadn't helped him. Cuddy had always been on the lookout, at House's request, for any signs of violence in their family. But House had never hurt their children. He was a great father. But if he had, Cuddy wouldn't have let it happen. She would protect her children to the death.

"I'm sorry I made him take me on the bike"

"It's okay, you're not in trouble" she stroked his hair, just as she had done with his father. Cuddy began to cry. She had known, but had never understood the extent of his emotional pain. No wonder he was a druggie.

"Mom, it's okay. We're both going to be fine"

"I know my baby, I know" she kissed him and turned away, going to her office. She knew what she had to do. His mother's name was on his call list. She had to call Blythe House, and she and John would come here and be in the same building as her son. In the same room as her husband. But she had to do it. She dialled the number slowly, her hand shaking slightly. It rang and Blythe House picked up.

"Mrs. House, this is Lisa Cuddy. I have some bad news"

"Cuddy... Aren't you that woman my son married?"

"Yes"

"Do I have a grandchild?"

"Three"

"I'd like to meet them. What was the news you had to give me"

"Your son was in a road accident yesterday"

"On his stupid bike?"

"Yes"

"I knew that thing would get him killed, I told him! Is he okay?"

"He is in a lot of pain, but we think he should make a full recovery"

"Is he at Princeton?"

"Yes, in the ICU"

"We'll be there later today" she put the phone down. 'We' House's father was on his way. Cuddy put her head on her desk, raising it only when she heard a knock on the door. The familiar shape on the other side brightened her spirits and when Wilson came in, she stood up to hug him.

"Is he okay?" Wilson asked as they hugged.

"He's in pain. He asked me to put him back in a coma. I'm not doing it"

"No. Don't do it"

"His parents are coming"

"What?"

"I had to call them. Blythe is on his list"

"They're both coming, here?"

"Yes. I had to. I didn't have any choice" Wilson nodded and pulled Cuddy in closer.

"It's okay"

"He thought it was his father"

"What?" Wilson looked confused

"He woke up, and felt the pain from his leg and the crash, and he begged his father to stop hitting him"

"Oh my God" Wilson let her go and sat down on her white leather sofa.

"He had a fever, and they put-"

"Ice. They put ice around him" Wilson put his head in his hands. "Make sure they don't actually give him an ice bath"

"I told the nurse not to"

"His father is coming"

"They'll be here this afternoon"

Four hours later, Blythe and John House were sitting in Cuddy's office with Wilson and Cuddy.

"Mr and Mrs House, we just wanted to talk to you before we let you in to see Ho- Greg" it sounded odd to hear his first name from Wilson's mouth.

"I want to see my son. Maybe now he'll listen about that bike" Blythe said

"He needs to be calm, he can't have people upsetting him at the moment" Cuddy said

"Stop mollycoddling him" John snapped. Cuddy inched closer to Wilson. "What room is he in?"

"431, it's on the fourth floor" Wilson said, standing. "Let's go" the little group stood up and went to House's room. He was hooked up to several machines, bandages visible on his chest above the green covers. He looked around as his parents entered, then his eyes widened and he bit his lip in an automatic response.

"House, they were on your forms, I had to call them"

"Please leave" House said, looking at his parents.

"Gregory, we came all this way, we want to talk to you" John said, disguising the dislike with politeness. "Dr. Cuddy, Dr. Wilson, please leave us alone with our son" Cuddy looked to House for permission, and he nodded slightly. She couldn't help thinking it was more because he didn't want to disobey than that he wanted to be alone with his parents. Cuddy and Wilson left, Cuddy kissing him on the forehead again. She cupped his face and looked into his deep blue eyes.

"We'll be back in 15 minutes, okay?" and they left.

"Blythe, can you go and get me a coffee?" John asked his wife.

"But- I wanted to see Greg"

"Go" he said, his tone dipping into an order.

"Mom, you don't need to go. Stay here" House said. "You can't order her around"

"I can do whatever I want"

"Boys, please" Blythe tried to placate them. She had always been the peacekeeper.

"Shut up Blythe"

"Don't talk to her like that!"

"I'll talk to my wife however I want to"

"Not in my hospital you won't" House shouted. He felt elated, totally disassociated from the fear that normally overtook him when he saw his father. John House covered the two steps towards his son's bed in a heartbeat. House heard the sound of flesh on flesh before her realised that his father had slapped him. In the moment, he was transported back to the endless punishments that had been the only constant in his childhood. Then he pressed the button summoning the nurse.

"Take them back to Cuddy" he said, gesturing to the couple. "Tell her I messed up"

"Okay Dr. House. Please, follow me" the nurse said. She led them away and House closed his eyes, raising his hand to feel the red mark his father's hand had left. It'd been almost forty years since he had left their home forever. Since he had left his father behind. But nothing had changed. He was still the little kid hiding from his father and his belt.


	5. Chapter 5

House was released with triple strength pain killers two days later. He was supposed to be in a wheelchair, but he couldn't stand it so he refused, relying on his cane to half support both his legs. Will had been released after one night. All three children tried to hug their father on his way in.

"Hold off a minute guys, let me sit down" he laughed. Dropping onto the sofa in the living room, House put his arms out for hugs. Sasha sat down next to him and leant her head against his shoulder

"We missed you daddy" she was nine, and House looked at her, seeing a little version of Cuddy. He bent his head to kiss her.

"I missed you too my darling" he said. Miles ran over with his chubby hands squeezing to be picked up. House scooped him onto his lap and kissed him too.

"Dad? I'm really sorry, it was all my fault" Will said from behind him.

"No. No it wasn't. Don't you ever blame yourself for this, okay?"

"But I made you let me ride"

"And I let you. I'm supposed to be the adult here, remember?"

"Yeah" Will grinned. His dad was no more of an adult than he was. House pulled Will in for a hug. His heart was exploding with love for his children, his prodigies, the only things he seemed to be doing right. Was he less loveable than they were? Was he really a stupid, ignorant, arrogant little shit who didn't deserve the love or affection of his father? He didn't understand how a father could treat his children in the same way John House had treated him.

"Okay kids, Mom needs to talk to your Daddy for a minute, okay? Will, please can you go and entertain your brother and sister?" Will nodded and took the children into the other room to play Lego.

"Hey Cuddy"

"Hey House" they hadn't had the chance to talk properly since House's parents had come. "Your mother called. They want to meet the kids"

"They?"

"Your parents" she confirmed

"I don't want that man in my house. He isn't going anywhere near my children"

"House, I think, maybe, we should give them a chance"

"Miles's age"

"What?"

"I was six, like Miles, when I made my first hospital visit. I was expelled from my prep school in England for cheating on a math test. He broke my rib beating me with the third volume of Encyclopaedia Britannica"

"Oh Greg"

"He told all the doctors I fell down the stairs. I was one clumsy kid"

"I just thought-"

"That man will never see my children. Never"

"What if we took them out for dinner? Then we'd be on equal grounds. He's threatened by you. You have a good life here, something it doesn't sound like he ever had" Cuddy wanted her children to know their grandparents, even if they hated them. Then there were no secrets.

"If he touches them..."

"We leave, and we press charges for assault" Cuddy said. House nodded.

"Will! I need to talk to you" House shouted through to the other room. Will came in and sat down between House and Cuddy on the sofa. For House, it was like remembering looking in the mirror, a long time ago. Except that Will was smiling, he had all his teeth and there were no bruises on his face. "We are all going out to dinner this evening with my parents"

"Really? Cool"

"Well, I need you to be on your best behaviour, okay? My father doesn't like it when people talk back or do anything that isn't sitting quietly at the table making polite conversation"

"Well he sounds like a bundle of laughs" Will said sarcastically

"Yeah. But I'm serious, be good okay."

"How come your'e only telling me?"

"Because you're the only one who inherited my sense of humour. My father never liked my sense of humour"

"But you're really funny" Will was a bit confused. Everyone liked his dad, even if they didn't seem to.

"To us, yeah, but he never understood it"

"Huh. When are we going?"

"At seven. Three hours" House gulped, realising how close he was to seeing them again. Will went back to his siblings. "Cuddy, I'm not sitting next to him"

"I'll do it"

"Okay. Thanks"

"They're here" House whispered to Cuddy as they spotted his parents come into the restaurant.

"Stay calm" she whispered back. House was never nervous, and it worried her to see him fiddle with his smart shirt as though he was genuinely scared.

"Greg, hello. Introduce us?" Blythe said as she kissed her son on each cheek.

"Hey Mom. This is Will, Sasha and Miles" House said, shaking his father's outstretched hand.

"Hello children, grandma's got you presents!" Blythe said in a high pitched voice, sitting down next to Will. John sat between his wife and Cuddy. House sat next to Miles and Sasha, as far as possible from his father. They ordered their food, and the children opened their presents. Will got a knitted hat, Sasha a doll and Miles a toy soldier. House wanted to object, he never gave army stuff to his children, but he didn't say anything. He was constantly glancing at Cuddy for reassurance.

"So, Mom, how've you been?" House asked

"Oh fine dear. Just milling around in our retirement. Perhaps we should come and live near here so that we aren't so lonely. Children make the heart younger, after all"

"You wouldn't like it here, Mom. Too noisy. Stay in the countryside. That way Father can keep going hunting"

"I don't hunt anymore. Stiff knee" John grunted "But hey, at least I can still walk" Cuddy blinked. He wasn't mocking House's limp? House looked stunned.

"I had an infarction. I nearly lost my leg"

"And now you're a drug addict, I know. I looked you up"

"He's got the drug use under control. This isn't really an appropriate discussion to be having in front of our children" Cuddy said pointedly. Both men stopped talking, throwing filthy looks at each other, desperate to argue.

"So, William, what grade are you in?" John asked. House tensed.

"I'm in eighth grade. I skipped"

"Wow. Your father skipped too"

"I know. I'm good at science too, like him" Will sat up straighter, pride swelling inside him for being like his dad.

"Get your elbows off the table" John scolded. Will put his hands under the table, slightly hurt. "Your hair is just as curly as your father's was. I prefer straight hair."

"What's wrong with my hair?"

"You grow a new curl every time you sin, did you know that?"

"I don't believe it"

"Don't you get smart with me"

"Father" House shouted as his father hit his son. House jumped up, he jaw set against the pain, anger welling up inside him. John stood too, squaring up to his son.

"House" Cuddy warned.

"You hit my son" House growled.

"He was being smart"

"He was questioning an idiotic belief"

"He needs to learn respect"

"Get out. You will never, ever, see my children again"

"You little-" John's eyes narrowed as he tried to control his anger enough to think of a cutting insult. But House didn't give him a chance. House punched him hard in the face, withdrawing his fist to find his knuckles split open. He'd hit the jaw. It'd hurt his hand more than it had hurt his father. "Weakling" John whispered. House bowed his head, the anger gone. Cuddy stood up and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go. Will, get Miles' coat please"

"That's your first mistake, treating them like people" Cuddy swung around and slapped him in the face. Her blow was ten times more effective than House's had been. She'd taken self-defence in high school.

"Don't you dare speak to me or my children like that! I'm going to file for assault" she shrieked as John House stumbled backwards into the table. The younger House family left in silence.

"I love you, Lisa Cuddy!" House said.

"Yeah Mom, that was awesome, the way you hit him then yelled and then we left!" Will was practically running around them in circles, he was so worked up. He had a large handprint on his cheek. House was seething. No one gets to hurt his kids.


End file.
